Is the Honors program really worth it?

[Tartheheel]

Is it worth applying to a state school's (UNC's) honors program? (Not the program that involves writing up a senior honors thesis, but the one that requires a certain number of core honors classes)

Will it benefit a med-school applicant 👍? (ex. taking honors o-chem, psyh./phil. honors seminars) What if one can do this w/o affecting one's GPA in any way? Does the "honors" designation make one more competitive than someone w/o honors classes, and the same GPA? Does this help in getting better LORs?

Thanks! 🙂

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[StritchMD2011]

I doubt it has a huge impact on how good you look to an ad-comm. It would be somewhat impressive if you do the honors program and get a great GPA, but if taking the harder classes causes your GPA to flail, it's probably better to just take the normal classes and do well.

I'm in my school's honors program, and I felt like it hurt my GPA somewhat. In retrospect, I wouldn't do it again. The only benefit I got from the program was early registration for my classes.

Luckily we don't have to write an honors thesis, just do a presentation of required research.

 

[HumbleMD]

I did the Honors program at the University of Michigan, and have mixed feelings about it. It does not show up as an official designation on one's transcript, so can at times seem pretty useless. On the positive, however, the honors advising is much better, as they basically assume you will be going to grad school, and honors students are often given much more flexibility and leeway (add/drop deadlines can be waived at will, for instance). As far as increased difficulty, it depends. Much as there is grade inflation at top Universities, particularly Ivy Leagues, I've found there is often grade inflation in honors courses - there are smarter kids in the course, so grades are expected to be higher. Also, in the med school applicaiton process, it definitely helps to have "Honors" repeated multiple times on your AMCAS application's transcript section. Pluses and minuses, but I'd say the opportunities make it worth it. If you are eligible for an Honors college, I'm sure you'll do fine in whatever you do, but recall that Med schools always encourage you to take the most demanding, rigorous course of study possible.

 

[Cali Anteater]

I just graduated from my university's Honors Program and I thought that the intangibles were much more valuable. The networks, the advising, and the freedom to develop your own course of research is amazing. I went to a big public school, and designing your own research, upper division writing, and upper division course work is unheard of outside of the Honors Program. I think overall the Honors Program made me a more goal-oriented person and it presented many more opportunities in terms of ECs (very important).

 

[theunremarkable]

I dropped out of the honors program because they wanted me to take classes that I had already tested out of in high school. So I said screw it. .

I dont think being in the honors program makes a big diffence in med school admissions. They look at GPA. . a 4.0 is still a 4.0 even if you werent in the honors program.

 

[CTtarheel]

UNC has a minimal honors program. Anyone with a 3.0 can take honors classes the people in the honors program just are REQUIRED to take them and get priority registration for them. Also, anyone who writes a thesis and meets other departmental requirements can graduate with honors, even if they never took an honors class. Having a couple honors classes on your transcript might help, and they are harder to get into if you're not in the honors program, but I don't think it will show up anywhere that you're in the "honors program".